Ever hear of Sarahah.com? Apparently it's this site that lets people send anonymous messages (read: constructive criticism...hopefully) to people through a simple messaging service. I made an account just to try it out. dualmask.sarahah.com/

Over the weekend, I drew, inked and colored image #100 for my Random Practice Babes art book. I'm now in the process of putting it all together so I can sell it digitally and in print, particularly the latter since it's far less likely people offline would have seen the sheer number of images from the book I've already posted online, heh.

I will most likely sell the print version through IndyPlanet until I can afford to print my own copies and sell them directly, and digital copies will be available through Amazon, Gumroad and whatever else will let me (some of the pics are in the realm of mature content, but none of it qualifies as porn, IMO).

The biggest issues I'm dealing with now are designing a cover and coming up with a title. I wonder if I should even bother being clever. I've never been tremendously good at titles...

I've only got 18 more images to create, and then I'll have finished making art for my 100 Random Practice Babes art book plan. Of course, I still need to make a cover and organize the content, but at least the hard part will be over. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the month, but if not, oh well.

Now, at present, I've shared over 70% of the content online, because I couldn't help it. But I never considered this project to be something that was going to make a whole lot of money anyway. I just wanted to do it, and now that it's near the end, I can make plans to get back to the artist I'm supposed to be.

I'm also going to stop trying to be something I'm not. The only way I can break my streak of indecision is to make different choices.

I know I want to work alone, I want to bring out my own characters and ideas, and I miss being a storyteller. So I'm making a solemn vow to put an end to random practice babes forever once this project is done (along with other things I've wasted my time on) and devote all my energy toward my characters (along with commissions.)

I'm going to get more active on dA, in addition to my presence on social media. There's way too much clutter so I'm going to start wiping my watch list and focusing only on friends' work.

I might even resubscribe. I kind of miss being able to make polls and stuff.

I posted this on my Facebook pages (personal and art business) already, and I thought I'd share this here as well.

I've been working hard on my Jet Dancer game. I had to deconstruct a lot of it and put it back together in order to make it less messy. I wanted to talk about the gameplay that I've designed since I finally have Jet to a point where she doesn't feel sloppy and unpolished. I got rid of several superfluous attacks that were causing glitches and not benefiting the game much.

The vertical gauge that glows is Jet's power gauge. It fills up rapidly and certain attacks and moves drain it. Jet can only dash or fire her kick cannon (not shown) when the gauge is full, but most moves such as dashing, backflip and getting injured drain it.

Jet can now dash in the air, at a downward angle. It extends the length of her jump distance significantly when used properly. If you jump as soon as you dash, the energy is maintained and she can dash again out of the air. It's useful for getting around since Jet is invulnerable while dashing.

I also implemented a power stock feature. When Jet lands her signature Rebound move (or collects a certain power-up item), her gauge increases up to a max level and an aura glows around her. Rebound also accelerates the recharge of her power gauge. During this time her attack power increases significantly. However, the buff is only temporary (I'm still playing around with how much time I want it to last for) but can be reset by landing another Rebound. This means that a skilled player can maximize damage (and score) by doing multiple Rebounds and dash evasions in combat.

Finally, I implemented a much-needed crouch ability. It can stand to be animated better...I'm thinking of changing it to a dance-evasion ability that renders her invulnerable for an instant, since Jet Dancer currently isn't doing a whole lot of...dancing.

I'm ready to move onto designing better enemies and levels now. My next goal is to produce the first boss enemy and set up the fight.

www.patreon.com/Dualmask So I'm pulling the trigger on this. I'll be posting future black female warrior illustrations on my Patreon page first, and sharing layered .PSD files and, in the future, process videos as well as giving Patrons the opportunity to provide input on future designs. Free and discounted commissions will be available to Patrons as well.

So my wife and I celebrated 14 years of marriage yesterday and decided to impromptu take off work and go see Suicide Squad.

I thought it was overall a fun movie, though the beginning felt rushed. I liked the banter, thought Will Smith, Margot Robbie (Harley stole the show) and even Jared Leto did a great job in their roles. It had more characters than it needed IMO (Captain Boomerang? Why?) and I had issues with the ending, but I enjoyed the film nonetheless.

I realize I need to be a lot more professional when it comes to this project of mine. I've been way too lackadaisical with my approach, just drawing girls on a whim, getting done whenever I get done. The last girl took almost a week of off and on noodling...at that rate it's going to take nearly two years to be done with this project.

One of the themes of the "Product not Project" approach was a time line, something like no less than three months (enough time for serious effort) but no more than one year (so the project doesn't drag on forever). I posted girl #1, The Rider, back sometime in May, so it's been about two months, and I'm on #17 now. So I decided to give myself a deadline... If I can't get to #30 by August 15, 2016, then I need to reconsider this project.

"Finished, not perfect" is another theme of the project I have latched onto, so I need to focus on images I can complete more quickly. Less backgrounds perhaps. Simpler ideas...gotta figure out a way to flow better. I need to prepare thumbnails in advance instead of playing the designs by ear.

[UPDATE] When I searched for PhotoRec as suggested by wbd I came up with something called Wondershare, which is much the same thing. I downloaded it, and ran it, and it was able to recover a great many of the lost files. The problem is it cost money to actually enable me to save the files, and most of the .PSDs were corrupt. I was able to recover a great many other things, including the sprites I made for my Jet Dancer game and many comic files.

I also found a program that can recover corrupt PSDs, but it too is pay software and I'm going to have to wait before I can buy more. But it seems the technology does exist for me to be able to recover what I have lost.--

Just thought I'd share...I was in the middle of trying to create a recovery disk for Windows 10 because my old desktop PC is on the verge of giving up the ghost. I put in an SD card in my other computer to create the disk with...but it wasn't until I finished the process that I realized I'd put my main SD card in the drive...the one containing all the art I've made in the last 3+ years (everything I made since I got my Surface and more recently my Cintiq Companion 2). Now, I'd been maintaining backups, but I've been negligent and I haven't done a proper backup since October 2015 or so...and everything I've made since then is completely gone. All the .PSDs of my RPB drawings, commissions, comics, and other projects have all been lost.

I'm not completely devastated; I can download high res files from my stash here, to at least replace the finished drawings, and much of my older stuff is on my Google Drive, but the biggest loss is collectively the layered files of all the drawings I'd done for my girl book so far, including WiPs that I had yet to finish. I've also lost all the progress I made on my WCL comics. WCL Chapter 1 was done but Chapter 2 was just beginning and now I'll have to start over again, which I was planning to focus wholeheartedly on once the girl book was completed.

The lesson here, back up your stuff, and back it up often...you never know when a screw-up might happen.

Stuck on girl #10 for my project! I drew up a couple of concepts but new ideas are fighting for attention in my head! I came up with a comic idea featuring an updated approach to older characters, and I got it in my head to teach myself ZBrush or Sculptris so I can learn to create miniatures of my characters (or RPBs) and put them on display...or on sale. I also have been thinking of making ebooks about my coloring or sprite-making process. Aargh, stupid imagination...

I recently acquired a PS4 (finally) and as I was perusing the game store, I felt the need to randomly write up this list.

Video game turn-ons for me:⦁ Is it a side-scrolling platformer (ex: Castlevania), top down action RPG (ex: Diablo III), 3rd person action (ex: Warframe) or role-playing game (ex: Tales Of Symphonia), a SHMUP (Soldner-X2) or turn-based RPG/SRPG (ex: Final Fantasy Tactics)?⦁ Does it let you create, or play as, an attractive female character? (Sexy preferably) - this will even cause me to give otherwise bad games a pass because I want to see more of it. Ex: Saints Row series, Freedom Wars, Bayonetta⦁ If it's a shooter, does it have a good single player campaign? Ex: Bioshock Infinite⦁ Is the game in a sci-fi or fantasy setting? Ex: Warframe, Devil May Cry

Video game turn-offs for me:⦁ Is it set in modern times and if so, is it hyper-realistic? Nothing bores me more than a game that seeks to mimic real life to the letter. WipEout over Gran Turismo any day.⦁ Is it a first person shooter? If so, is it military-themed? After playing Metroid Prime, Bioshock Infinite and Destiny, I realized I don't quite hate FPS games, but I do hate the ones that are all military themed and squad-based and all that. This doesn't just go for FPS games either--Really couldn't care less for any game with Tom Clancy in the title. Metal Gear interests me because it tends to fly into the realm of sci-fi and it has some great characters that aren't just evil generals and el presidentes.⦁ If it is a SHMUP, is it a bullet-hell SHMUP? I hate those. Just give me some enemies, some bigger enemies, and a huge boss with a pattern you have to learn. Don't fill the screen with a billion projectiles and 20 laser beams with one pixel of space between them that you have to maneuver your exceptionally fragile fighter through (seriously, Y U NO stop with the one-hit death?) for 99% of the level and call that a 'fun game'.⦁ Is stealth the absolute focus, meaning you either can't win or the game is super-difficult if you aren't stealthy? I like stealth as an option, not as a requirement. When I played Skyrim, sometimes I felt like silently sniping my foes from afar with my mad archery skills and other times I felt like rushing into the middle of a group of bandits and setting off some chain lightning. While wearing no armor. I like options.⦁ Does it require multiplayer and/or team-based gameplay? (Emphasis is OK, I like fighting games--multiplayer-only is NOT okay--hence why I have no interest in MOBAs.)⦁ Are your forced to play as a bog-standard Caucasian action hero with brown hair and a five o'clock shadow? (Forgiveable if the game is awesome, but definitely something that I get tired of seeing). Ex: Just Cause 3, Uncharted series⦁ Is it any kind of sports game outside of extreme sports? If so, fuggedaboudit.⦁ If it's a platformer, is it one of those dumb "puzzle platformers" with no HUD, no enemies (or no real, direct way to defeat enemies-sword, gun, stomping, etc.) with just a bunch of, well, puzzles to solve? I like puzzles, when they're part of something bigger (e.g., a puzzle in an RPG dungeon), not when they are the whole game. Ex: The Swapper.⦁ If it's an MMO, can I do fine on my own? (I don't mind teaming up occasionally and I can appreciate the benefits, but if I can't get to the endgame while soloing--no matter how long it takes--then I'm not interested. Don't force me to team up.) When I play MMOs, I do so to see the variety of abilities and powers, the unique world, and to dress up female avatars in interesting and revealing attire, not to make friends.

This doesn't mean that I'll like any game that ticks off all the 'turn-ons' or that I'll hate any game that ticks the 'turn-offs'. I'll give things a chance. But generally, this is the checklist I go through in my head before I consider renting or purchasing a game.

The 'turn-ons' are just things that make me 'light up' when I look into a game. I didn't mention racing games, but I like Mario Kart and WipEout. I don't like puzzle platformers but I do like match-3 puzzlers (Bejeweled, Puzzle Quest, etc.).

I suppose the massive list of turn-offs makes me look rather pretentious or limited in my game interests. Well, my game library says I'm not. That's what I love about the game industry as a whole...it's got something for everyone and plenty of things to try.

Wow, I haven't written a journal in a long time. Well, I was tagged by and with Jet Dancer on the forefront of my mind yet again, I figured I'd go ahead and bite.

1. Post the rules 2. Post 8 thing about your character 3. Tag 8 other characters4. Post the characters along with their creator's icons

8 Facts About Jet Dancer

1.I created Jet Dancer in 2004 as part of a series of randomly designed female characters, random practice babes if you will. Jet was ninth in the series, effectively the pinnacle of the designs, and even though I had no plans of turning them into actual characters with stories at the time, Jet’s design, and the whole idea of half-naked warrior women with weapons on their bodies sat in the back of my mind for a long time, until in 2009 I decided to bring her back out and she became something of a hit…though it took another couple of years before she had something resembling a story and even longer before I produced even part of it in tangible form. www.amazon.com/Jet-Dancer-Danc…

2.Jet Dancer, or Jenna Delgado, is a genetically-engineered human growth-accelerated to appear to be a woman in her early 20s, though she is actually only around seven years old. While she does not have the mind of a child and is in fact quite intelligent, she lacks experience and she is very impulsive, often leading to property damage or a penchant to dive into situations without thinking. She stands about 5'4" without her boots on and she's around 6 feet tall with them on. Her weight is 140lbs boot-less, 200lbs with the boots.

3.Nanotechnology gives Jet Dancer (and her “sisters”) peak human physical strength, near limitless stamina and extreme durability. While she is not completely invulnerable, her body heals incredibly fast. In addition, her eyes actually have implants within them that give Jet various scanning capabilities. She can analyze both biological and mechanical internal systems and detect things such as accelerated heartrate, unseen wounds or illnesses, or weak points in hostile machinery, and so on. Her blue eye tends to glow brightly when scanning, and her red eye glows more brightly when she senses danger or is preparing for combat. This combined with her nanotech-fueled reflexes and strength, gives Jet a sort of “sixth sense”.

4.Jet uses a self-developed fighting style inspired by Taekwondo and Capoeira, with emphasis on kicks and acrobatics with very few punches. She relies primarily on her feet/legs as her weapons. However, Jet despises violence and will only resort to it when left with no other option.

5.Jet’s rocket boots, designed specifically to work with her unique physiology, are powered by the same nanotechnology that strengthens her body, and will not function if removed from her. They are far heavier and more durable than they appear, made of an unknown, experimental metal alloy with highly complex technology inside that allows Jet to control their ignitions by reflex. The boots are designed to give Jet momentum as she leaps about, ensuring that she makes as powerful an impact as possible when she lands from her tremendous leaps. Her gauntlets are made of the same material, but do not possess ignition abilities and are merely for protection; Jet can block attacks, or vault over rough or dangerous surfaces, etc.

6.Jenna is a very pleasant person. She seems simpleminded, even ditzy, on the surface, but it’s a front; she is in a constant state of analysis, always observing those around her. She maintains her positive demeanor, partly because she wants the good to be able to relax around her, and partly to lull any enemies into a false sense of security. However, Jenna has lost memories, the lack of which often has her wondering if her personality is even her own.

7.Jenna works by day at a local art and trade school, although she was left with a trust fund that guaranteed she would never need or want for anything material. She often participates as a model for life drawing classes, and she studies the arts herself (drawing, dance) in her spare time.

8.Jet’s relationship status is currently nonexistent. She’s still learning about herself and the world, as well as her place in it, and hasn’t entertained the notion of spending private time with any men. She is in many ways, as previously stated, still inexperienced…

--

Okay, let's see. I don't think I can think of eight people to tag here, but I do have a few in mind. Hopefully they'll be interested in talking about their characters.

It may seem as though I've all but abandoned dA, and I can't say that's completely untrue. It's been getting harder for me to be attentive to this site lately. I'm still making lots of art, but I do more sharing on Facebook and Instagram these days. I don't dislike dA but I guess I can say I'm outgrowing it a bit. I don't get what I used to get from it anymore. Part of it is certainly because I'm getting older and learning things is getting harder, and the appeal of getting comments and favorites has waned for me. I'm much more interested in actually getting things done, and I've been finding commission clients who are willing to pay better rates for my commissions outside of dA, through Facebook and my own website.

I've put aside the Jet Dancer game for a while, which should surprise no one who knows me, because I dove in without a real plan of attack. After designing a bunch of moves and a couple of enemies, I lost the will to create it. I guess my interest is more so in character animation than it is in actually building a level-based platformer game. I think I'd be better off making some kind of fighting game, something akin to Street Fighter or Super Smash Bros.; something I can focus mainly on characters and put less effort into backgrounds and level designs...

But while I sort all that out, I'm back to working on WEAPON Combat League, in comic form. I completed three full color pages over the weekend and I have more in progress.

I read a great article featuring wisdom from the late great Jean Giraud, a.k.a. Moebius, for aspiring artists, www.openculture.com/2015/03/mo… that has me focusing more on my craft and trying to nail down exactly what I want to do with my creative skill. I've been letting it get weaker over the last couple of years, focusing on projects that were meant to impress others without necessarily appealing to me. I want to improve my skill by putting in the work and producing something I can actually be proud of, even if I'm the only one who likes it.

Same old background and all that, but here's a video of Jet in action. I'm just about settled on her moves, my first two basic enemies are active, and this little test environment has an actual win condition as well as loss conditions, so it's something like a GAME now, but not the game I have in mind, yet.

No, the enemies don't fight back yet, but I added a bunch of mechanics and moves to my game project.www.scirra.com/arcade/action-g…It's still not a "game" yet but I want to get Jet feeling just the way I want to, so I'm working on more moves and better controls. Plus, I need a little help.

I've had some trouble uploading this version of the game file. On some browsers (like Chrome and Edge), it works, on others it's really choppy (like IE at my day job), and on others (namely Firefox), the player sprite comes out all garbled and the rest of the game is stuck in pre-update mode. So if you don't mind, please check the game out and tell me how you experience it? Thanks!

P.S., if you have an Xbox or USB controller, you can control Jet with that instead of the keyboard.

P.S.S., that new backflip move is available...if the game works right...by pressing up and the Kick command.

Sorry for the lack of art posts lately. To be honest, I'm not doing much drawing these days. But it's not because I'm having a block or because I'm indecisive or anything like that. I'm actually hard at work at making Jet Dancer's game a reality.

I've been working hard on adding animations so Jet can execute combo attacks and all sorts of aerial maneuvers while still looking and feeling more fluid. Once I'm satisfied with her movement and attack abilities, I will turn my focus toward designing levels and enemies.

I've been getting requests about the Jet Dancer comic, and I must honestly admit I'm probably not going to pick it up any time soon. Between my game project and a big coloring job coming up for a UK comic company, my focus is pretty much going to be spent for a while.

I just want to acknowledge everyone who has and will give me their well wishes on my special day. Thanks a lot everyone! Definitely makes me forget all about the fact that I'm getting up there in years, and it's great to know people care!

Here is a link to my Jet Dancer game work in progress. I'm learning complex software and the fine art of actual game development at the same time here, and it's rough around the edges but I'm showing off what I've done so far anyway. Have a look-see...

Since 2002, I believe, beginning under my original username FallenAngel77.

2.What does your username mean?

Dualmask has many meanings. It was originally the name of an enemy in a Final Fantasy game I took a liking to, and used it as one of my character’s names when I was a teenager. When I was looking to replace my first username (where was that name change feature back then? Sigh), the name stuck because it sounded cool to me. I consider Dualmask my mascot, my logo, and the symbol of being forever torn between darkness and light.

3.Describe yourself in three words.

Brilliant but lazy.

4.Are you left or right handed?

Right

5.What was your first deviation?

I dug into the depths for this one…man, I sucked back then. This isn’t the first deviation I ever posted (I deleted it but I’m pretty sure it was an image of my OC Nia) but this is the oldest one I had available: a collaboration/art trade with the incredible from WAY back in the day.

6.What is your favourite type of art to create?

I want to say “sexy girl pinups” because that’s what comprises most of my gallery, but lately I’ve been losing interest in that, focusing instead on making animated game sprites.

7.If you could instantly master a different art style, what would it be?